Best Vegetarian Dish (2009)

There was a time when the only thing fit for consumption at Brasil was the coffee. Thankfully, that time has passed. And while the service still has light-years to go before it's considered passable, the food, at least, is amazing. It's rare in Houston to find a menu that skillfully and subtly includes excellent vegetarian and vegan dishes amongst a standard array of carnivorous cafe fare. Although it has ample competition from the likes of a warm breakfast salad with egg whites, quinoa and cactus-pear vinaigrette and a savory eggplant and tapenade sandwich served on a crusty baguette, the vegetarian dish that really shines at Brasil is the roasted beet, goat cheese and walnut sandwich on freshly baked ciabatta bread. The dishes at Brasil celebrate and enhance the vegetables instead of vainly pretending they're meat, and the earthy and tangy beet and goat cheese sandwich is no exception.